We have developed an end-to-end platform that analyzes sequencing data, allowing for the extraction of biologically meaningful information.
The novelty of AGen's iNET platform resides in:
- The fact that it is the first REAL end-to-end analysis platform for aging-related high-throughput sequencing data. No coding knowledge, secondary analysis, or pre-processing is required.
- Our novel algorithm that integrates differential gene expression analysis and mutational profiling with a priori knowledge of aging and selected aging-associated diseases.
- Easily-interpretable results which can be used immediately to identify biomarkers and potential drug targets.
- The maintenance of confidentiality and data privacy through the use of containerized solutions for intermediate file storage and the encryption of results.
The project consists of 3 sub-teams:
- Front-end development with a focus on the user to create an accessible user interface.
- Back-end development:
- Pipeline development: building a robust pipeline for the analysis of sequencing data to ensure the reproducibility, stability and speed of the analysis.
- Network analysis: development of novel algorithms for network analysis, for our knowlede is the first algorithm that meaningfully integrates several layers of information for the sequencing data with a priori knowledge of two conditions (Disease|Aging). The results aren't simply data-driven, but are projected on onto our up-to-date biological and clinical knowledge.
The core idea is to develop a new service/software that can be marketed to several target audiences within the aging space, including but not limited to:
- Clinicians: Hospitals often lack bioinformatics support and our service can help to guide clinicians to personalize therapies for patients and to evaluate off-label prescription from an in-depth analysis of high-throughput sequencing data.
- Pharmaceutical companies: Maintaining a full-time bioinformatics team can be expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical space that require the analysis of sequencing data often prefer to pay for a single-time/subscription service. Also, due to the novelty of our algorithm, bigger companies may require our services to retrieve novel insights from their data.
- Academic labs: Bioinformatics has rapidly become an integral part of the field of longevity, and strong bioinformatics analysis is a requirement for submission to high-impact journals in many domains within this domain. Many traditional wet-lab biologists struggle to keep up with these advances for many reasons, including: the lack of qualified individuals to carry out reproducible genomics data analysis, the costs, in terms of time and money, of acquiring bioinformatics skills, and the complexities of implementing the prerequisite computational infrastructure. The use of AGen's iNET service requires no installation, pipeline development or coding skills. This has the potential to accelerate the research process, leading to insights and highly impactful research in the field of aging.